Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest counts are the ones each agency reported to the FBI, as the FBI held them on October 8, 2026. The jail figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data. Every office link was opened and checked against the office's own site between September 24, 2026 and October 2, 2026.
Rooks County, Kansas, has about 4,700 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Rooks County Sheriff's Office and one city agency. An arrest leaves the same records whoever makes it: the arresting agency's report, the record of anyone held at the county jail, and, if the County Attorney files charges, a case in the Rooks County District Court. This guide says who keeps each one, what it costs and who may see it, with the arrest counts each agency reported.
This guide covers who makes arrests, how many arrests, booking and the jail, finding an arrest, copies, cities and common questions.
Related guides: Rooks County public records, Kansas arrest records, Kansas inmate search and Kansas criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Rooks County
The Rooks County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Rooks County. It reported 21 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists one city in Rooks County with a reporting agency of its own:
- Plainville, 1,693 residents: 21 arrests reported for 2021.
A city on that list is reported separately whether the officers are the city's own or the sheriff's under contract; the FBI's list does not say which.
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Rooks County
Each agency reports its arrests to the FBI by month, and the FBI publishes them on the Crime Data Explorer. These are the full-year totals, all offenses, as the FBI held them on October 8, 2026; a year with months missing or not reported is left out.
- Rooks County Sheriff's Office: 21 for 2025, 21 for 2024, 39 for 2023, 48 for 2022, 36 for 2021 and 36 for 2020.
- Plainville: 21 for 2021 and 23 for 2020.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2021 on file reported 57 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2021 and 2020 complete reported 57 in 2021 against 59 in 2020, down 3.4 percent.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Rooks County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Rooks County is held at the county jail, whichever agency made the arrest, apart from the short stay some city departments' own holding cells allow; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked at all. The jail's record of each person held, with the charges, is a public record of the arrest, and the court file takes over from there.
On an average day in 2019 the jail held about 18 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 20 beds, and it ran at 90 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the custody page of the Rooks County Sheriff's Office at rookscountysheriff.com/jail-roster (page title: Jail Roster | Rooks County Sheriff), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 24, 2026.
That page is the place to look for someone who was booked recently; a person cited and released at the scene, or held only a few hours by a city department, will not be on it.
A person sentenced to prison serves the sentence in a facility of the Kansas Department of Corrections, whose inmate locator is at doc.ks.gov/@@search?SearchableText=inmate+search.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Rooks County
An arrest in Rooks County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the custody page of the Rooks County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; Kansas District Court Public Access Portal, the Kansas courts' statewide case search, which shows whether charges were filed.
Kansas is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: anyone can order a name-based criminal history record check online, through the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. That record shows what agencies reported to the state, which is wider than one county's court index but can lag it.
Getting a Copy of an Arrest Record in Rooks County
An arrest report belongs to the agency whose officer wrote it, and that agency releases it, not the court or the jail. Under the Kansas Open Records Act the agency must answer within 3 business days, and it may charge staff time and copying.
- An arrest by the Rooks County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Plainville: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Rooks County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the six cities in Rooks County: Plainville. Stockton, Palco, Damar, Woodston and Zurich have no separate reporting agency in the FBI's list.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Rooks County District Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Rooks County each year?
The Rooks County Sheriff's Office reported 21 arrests to the FBI for 2025. For 2021, the latest year most of the agencies in Rooks County sent in full, the two with every month on file reported 57 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Rooks County?
Look on the custody page of the Rooks County Sheriff's Office at rookscountysheriff.com/jail-roster. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Rooks County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Rooks County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Rooks County?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation: anyone can order a name-based criminal history record check online. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Kansas Open Records Act.
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Rooks County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Rooks County Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. Under the Kansas Open Records Act the answer is due within 3 business days.
Is this the official Rooks County website?
No. SearchSystems.net is an independent public records guide, online since 1997. It links to the official county, court and state offices described above and does not hold records, charge for them or take requests.